Empower and Engage
When teachers and school leaders discover and develop their own strengths, they can create engaging and strengths-affirming learning experiences for students. And when students are engaged and focused on their strengths, they are empowered to succeed academically and personally.
Build on what's strong, not what's wrong...
Strengths Academy is based on more than 70 years of behavioral economics. Every significant study of strengths – in schools, in the workplace and at every stage of life – consistently finds that people who concentrate on developing their top talents achieve the greatest success. Fixing weaknesses can prevent failure – and there are situations where that focus is necessary – but it is self-limiting.
Meanwhile, the capacity for developing strengths, and the successes that flow from using those strengths, is virtually unlimited. Gallup® sums up the research conclusions succinctly: build upon what is strong, rather than focusing on what is wrong.
Strengths Academy builds a strengths-based school culture that empowers and engages students. It begins by empowering and engaging teachers and staff, giving them the opportunity for professional development based on their Gallup CliftonStrengths® themes. Strengths Academy’s comprehensive curricula and ongoing coaching give teachers the skills to nurture and develop the potential in their students.
Depending on grade level, students take Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer® or CliftonStrengths to identify their natural talents. Through a series of short weekly seminars, they begin putting their talents into action, recognizing and appreciating the talents of others, and creating strengths portfolios that will help them navigate the transition to middle school, high school and the world beyond.
Strengths Academy may be used school-wide — in homeroom or counseling periods, or integrated into leadership or academic courses — to build a strengths-based school culture. BLAST provides academic acceleration in literacy or math, with built-in Strengths Academy to promote hope, well-being and intrinsic motivation for struggling students.
Learn more about the science behind strengths education at Gallup Research.
